Faced with a chronic labour shortage, resulting from mass emigration and a shrinking population, Croatia has opened its doors to migrants from as far afield as Nepal, India and the Philippines to plug the gaps. One such migrant is Dhami Man Singh, from Nepal. "I believed that I would have an easier and better life in Croatia" he says. In the past, Croatia has relied on seasonal workers from Balkan neighbours, but in 2023 the small EU country provided nearly 120,000 non-EU nationals with work permits, a 40 percent increase on the previous year. Despite the influx, the new wave of migrant workers are not always welcomed in what is one of Europe's most homogenous societies. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES